Here’s today’s assessment of media coverage, issues and trends. I go through the papers so that the HonestReporting staff (and now you too) don’t have to. Commentary • Must-read: Amir Taheri (Asharq al-Awsat) persuasively asks if Palestine is a nation or a cause. He points out that neither Fatah nor Hamas describe themselves as “national”…

• Two Palestinians, Amjad Awad, 19, and Hakim Awad 18, have confessed to brutally murdering the Fogel family. Haaretz reports that six other people from the Palestinian village of Awarta were arrested for helping hide the murder weapon and suppressing evidence. Awarta’s in shock: Many in the village refuse to believe the investigation conclusions including…

Sky News reports that a group of Salafists inspired by Al-Qaida just kidnapped an Italian journalist in Gaza. Their video (via Gaza Times) demands that Hamas release their “holy warriors” from detention. The video identifies the Italian as Vittorio Arrigoni. This abduction isn’t as straightforward as the Alan Johnston affair. That’s because the International Solidarity Movement…